


Live Again

by Selkie_de_Suzie



Series: Live Again [1]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road, mad max - Fandom
Genre: AU, Fix-It, Healing, Past Abuse, Post-Canon Fix-It, Romance, Tentative Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-04-03 06:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkie_de_Suzie/pseuds/Selkie_de_Suzie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The trick to Living Again, Nux found, was to find something - someone - worth living for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One: A New Valhalla.

**Part One: A New Valhalla.**

_I live, I die, I live again._

He does indeed live again. How, he does not know. The flames surrounding him, the charred flesh, the roar of the Rig and Rictus, bones splintering -

Her eyes on his, watching,  _witnessing_  -

He does not know, but the red he wakes to is not fire, though he is burned, burned bad. The glow he sees is not from the halls of Valhalla, the warmth he feels not its fires. He feels…he feels, and so lives…? 

The red of her hair, the glow of her eyes, the warmth of her touch, skin soft and shine and chrome and -

His voice, like gravel and pain and sand, so rough.  _“…C…Capable?”_  

“ _Nux?_  NUX! Nux, oh God - FURIOSA! FURIOSA, HE’S ALIVE, HE SURVIVED, HE LIVES -!” 

_I live. I die._  Nux’s thoughts are slow and drip through his mind like tar. But Capable, soft and sweet and cool, is near, and her hands cradle his skull.  _I live again._

_Glory be, I live again._

His eyes are weak, can only squint against the harsh burning blue of the sky, but he finds a sweeter shade in her gaze. Her eyes are full of tears, full of water, precious and salty and flowing down her face. Water for him…why waste anything so precious on him? 

Before he would have howled in anguish, once again denied a glorious death, the flame of Valhalla closed behind cold doors, barring him to a wasteland of sand and destruction and mediocrity.  

But now…

There is more than one way to Valhalla. 

It is not a hall, nor any place. It is red hair that glows scarlet in the sun, blue eyes that make him think of the same sweet comfort and bliss of Aqua Cola, lips that speak his name - “Nux,  _Nux,_  stay with me, we’ll get you back, the Citadel has medicine now that can - oh Nux, please,  _stay with me!”_  - as though it is a precious thing, as though he is wanted and brilliant and shine and chrome. Skin soft on his, he remembers how his scarred lips pressed against a cheek as soft as this…

Soft. Scarlet. Shiny and Sweet and Chrome and -

_“Capable?”_  Stronger now, though still ragged. 

“ _Yes_ , Nux, it’s me, I’m here -” 

His fingers twine into soft scarlet.  _Mediocre,_  his mind screams at him, sounding so very much like Slit.  _Profane. How dare you?_

Nux is able to ignore it. He licks his lips - _they feel so raw_ \- and lets himself  _look_  at her, drink her in, witness the balm of her glory. 

His Valhalla has a new name. 

“Capable. Take me…?”  _If you find me worthy.  
_

Her hands twine about his, strong and steady. “Nux, I won’t leave without you.” 

His eyes close at that, and his half-life heart makes a vow right then and there.

_I’ll live again for you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This movie, my word...Nux has stolen my heart entirely and I have yet to get it back, and his achingly tender and lovely relationship with Capable…*soft, dreamy sigh.*


	2. Part Two: Green and Blue, Grown Anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Capable hadn’t placed much hope in the barren blue skies above the Citadel, but she had dared to dream of rain in the Green Place. Now, she may be able to have both…

**Part 2: Green and Blue, Grown Anew.**

The Green Place. Wild and rumored and a dream that she and Angharad would whisper to one another across the bed, soft in the darkness. A place of waters and growth, of mothers and nurturing. Green and lush and an escape, a dream she would wake reaching out for. 

She had dared to dream of rain in such a place. 

Rain does not happen in the Citadel. Neither does water, not true water. Aqua Cola happened, the taint of the Immortan running through it deeper than any mineral, any silt.  _Fresh but still swill,_  the Dag would spit. 

But rain…rain came from the skies. Miss Giddy had told them. It came from the skies in sheets, pouring over cracked earth and soaking parched skin, pooling in mouths. So much water, given freely, no supplication needed…

Cheedo had said something about singing in the rain, how it made people want to dance. Capable believed it. 

But rain came from the sky, and the sky above the Citadel was forbidden to them. Locked away in the chamber with her Sisters, Capable was only able to see glimpses. They were taken out, of course, given sun and fresh air.  _Keeping the livestock healthy._  But the sky is empty of water. It is a blue, burning thing, arcing over a burning land. Blue and endless and taunting, always taunting.  _So much freedom, freedom you will never have -_

The skies above the Citadel would never give her rain. The Green Place would.

Nux is not Green. Nux is Blue. 

Those eyes of his, at first closed to her, then squinting around him in pain. Eyes that are wide and pure and always on her, not tracking her as the Immortan’s did -  _keeping an eye on property_  - but drinking her in, as if she were as sweet as water. As if she was the only thing that could slake and soothe him. 

Eyes that are so achingly blue she swears she can feel the glow of them on her skin.  _Nux…_

His burns are bad, but it’s his leg that worries him, worries them all. “What use is a War Boy who can’t run?” 

“You are not a War Boy. You don’t have to be. You can be something new now, Nux. Like me. You can be New with me. Would you like that?” 

He looks at her, as if trying to souse out any falseness or mockery. She gazes at him, steady and true. “It’s your choice, Nux. You have a choice now. We all do.” 

His answer is his hand twining around hers, and Capable feels a painful warmth course through her at that. He looks away, still so anxious, and she lets herself drink him in. 

Nux’s eyes. Those are the skies she wants. So blue, so open and free and all for her,  _all for her_  - 

Nux is not Green. But he has given her new skies, and she dares to think he can give the same blessed balm as rain. 

And together they can both become as fresh and new as the Green Place of her dreams.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was basically an excuse for me to rhapsodize about Nicholas Hoult's blue blue blue eyes. Comments are sweet as Aqua Cola!


	3. Part Three: Hope Is A Thing That Burns

**Part Three: Hope Is A Thing That Burns**

His fingers are getting burnt by the engines, covered in grease. A welcome discomfort after all the inaction. 

He’s back to working in the Garages, finally out of the Sick Bay, which despite the soft hands and strong, practical words of Toast, had him go nearly as mad as Blood Bag.  ** _Max_**.  _Shouldn’t call him that, should know better now_ - 

The others watch him. The Pups stare at He Who Returned From The Wreckage, another Legend for their young mouths to hiss stories about. The older ones - not Boys but Men, hardened and scarred and twisted and gnarled and strong but pitied for not achieving the glory of Valhalla at a young age -  hang back and mutter and growl.  _How’d he survive, how’d d’you think he did it, scrawny but damn good driver, always managed to stick around, Valhalla threw him back -_

 _No,_ Nux thinks. _I found a new one. She’s the how. She’s the reason. Give her the Legend, I don’t deserve it -_

He’s an anomaly. A Miracle now. It’s a damn sight better than Mediocrity, but their eyes itch at his skin, and his burns already fester enough as it is. 

Yet he is healing. “Slowly but surely,” Toast says - so  _knowingly_ , he wants to make the joke but doesn’t want to overstep -  her tone professional but her touch gentle on his torn up, half spent body. She helps him on the cars sometimes, counts bullets as well. She’s got a good head for it, counting and tracking and healing. 

They all find ways to not leave him be. Worried for Capable? Worried for his own self?  _I served him. I begged for his eye to fall upon me, he who hurt you. I did that, shouldn’t touch me, shouldn’t suffer me -_

Toast heals him. The Dag shows him leafy, green things she managed to coax to life. She puts his hands on one, the feel of it tender and pliant and soft and Nux almost pulls away, he’s never felt anything quite like that -  _her skin was soft, soft on his scarred over lips_  - before. Cheedo is fluttery and shy, but her smile is quick when she catches his eye.

Furiosa is strong and steady, the continuous thrum of power in the Citadel now. They will no longer conquer and claim. They will trade and fix. There are plans to be made, but they  _can_  and  _will_  make them. They shall weld and mend and forge anew.

_New…_

The word doesn’t itch at him, but Nux feels it all the same. He doesn’t know if it’s Shine, doesn’t know if it’s Mediocre. He has a New Valhalla -  _scarlet, soft skin touching scars, kindness in her eyes burning brighter than any flame_  - but New still makes him wary. What place does he warrant in this New? 

New feels like…

_“Feels like Hope…”_

Hope sits in his chest, makes his ribs a cage, a bright burning thing. But it’s a flame that doesn’t sear flesh. But oh, Hope can hurt…

 _“Hope is dangerous,”_   _Slit had growled, and Nux had nodded. “Better to be burned by real fire then get lit by that. ‘Nother word for delusion. Pain. Our path burns brighter anyway. You an’ me, heading to those halls, that’s our fire Nux, you an’ me - ”_

Nux’s whole half-life has been pain, Larry and Barry have seen to that. He’s only just broke from the delusion of Joe. But Hope…

He’s only just met Hope. Still doesn’t know how to use it.  

But he tries anyway. 

Hopes that his leg will heal. Hopes that Bullet Farm and Gas Town will accept Immortan Furiosa as they had welcomed Imperator Furiosa on her runs. Hopes that the other War Boys will follow. Even with the whispers and the growls, they already look at him with new eyes. The little ones sometimes salute him, and Nux wants to cry and laugh and duck his head - 

Hope for the green leafy things, growing so tender in this parched world -

But most of all, Hope for Her. Capable.

“You shouldn’t call me your new Valhalla,” she tells him, tilting her head. Her smile is soft but serious. “I’m not worthy of that. Don’t make me into something to die for, Nux.” 

“Never die for,” he promises. “Live for. And you’re not Something, not any Thing. You’re so much more. You’re Capable. Chrome can’t compare to you.” 

His words overwhelm the both of them, and they each look away. But he means every ragged word, tumbling one right after the other from his scarred mouth.  

When Capable watches him work, her eyes don’t itch. They burn him, mark him in the loveliest and most frightening way. He craves all the heat she makes him feel - something soft and gentle, sun on the roof of a War Rig, and then something…

…something that confuses him, something that pulses through his body when his eyes dare to trace the lines of her - her dips and curves, a road he wants to map but doesn’t know how. It thuds through him, like the drums of war, makes him ache. He has never…he doesn’t know…

She will Drive. She will tell him and he will always, _always_  listen,  _yes no stop go_. He will wait for her command.  _ **He will not hurt her.**_  

But he  _hopes…_

 _Slit was right,_  he thinks as he stretches, his back knotting after working on the car for so long.  _Hope is dangerous_. 

But than…all worthwhile things are. 

Capable. He was wholly unprepared for her, no warning, uncharted territory. No thing, no one, could be more dangerous. His New Valhalla. His Hope.

Choosing to Live Again was dangerous. For her, he will do it a thousand times over.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so terribly sorry for the long wait! I truly do want to continue this fanfic, at least for a bit more. Life has just consumed me, as it will.


	4. Part Four: Rain Upon Scars

**Part Four: Rain Upon Scars**

Her expression is teasing though her eyes are soft and steady as always. “You won’t be the first person to use it like this, you know.”

Nux is doubtful. And suspicious. “To bathe?” Surely Aqua Cola is too precious for that. 

She smiles, gentle and warm, and it is a balm on him, as good as any salve upon his skin. “It’s called a shower. Toast wanted something other than our pool, wanted to get away from our – the Vault.” She looks down at the wet rocks. “Too many memories. We never tried to bathe without our clothes if we could help it.” She shakes her head, flicking away a thought, the spray clinging in little diamond droplets to soft scarlet strands.

Diamonds are just rocks. But once upon a time they were cut and polished and held as something far more than chrome. Slit had cackled at the thought, and Nux had been pure puzzled.

And now he finds it hard to imagine any rock, even if it’s cut and polished and inlaid upon the very gates of Valhalla, comparing to Capable just then, her linens clinging damp against her skin where they’re not fluttering in the spray, scarlet twining dark and damp as her hair, loosed from her braids, drapes and spills over the fine line of her neck.  _So shine, so chrome, so…_

**_Lovely._ **

So  _lovely_ , his New Valhalla, scarlet and soft and shine, how she makes him  _burn_ , pulse with heat,  _ache ache ache_  – 

He grinds that heat into ash whenever he can, as merciless as a boot is to a lizard. It’s nothing new to War Boys, or so he had been told. Slit had always mocked him over how Nux had hid, but that was Slit.  _“A Half-Life ain’t got nothin’ to hide, Nux. Best take our pleasure when we can.”_

Never mind that he hadn’t really known  _what_ to do, still didn’t really know if he was doing it proper, so he had tried to simply ignore it –

And that had worked. Besides, half-lives weren’t supposed to waste any time on themselves, everything was for the Immortan, for Valhalla –

Though she  _is_  his New Valhalla. And she has soaked into him, Aqua Cola down a parched throat, burned into him like the scorching line of the Wasteland’s horizon that he raced for behind his wheel –

But the Wasteland holds dryness and salt, while Capable holds Hope. Capable  _is_  Hope, burning bright and soft.

They go slow. His leg needs to heal, her scars run deeper than even his, and the memory of the Immortan hangs over both.  _War Boys Aren’t To Touch The Wives._   

So they go slow. Soft touches, long gazes, a low and smoldering burn. The Sisters know not to tease her –  _too much_  – and the War Boys and Pups don’t dare question He Who Returned From The Wreckage.

It has been shine, the shiniest, all new and wondrous, more than he ever thought he could get -

Yet she had still been apologetic, eyes darting down and teeth catching at lips. “I…I  _want_  to, Nux, I promise I do, one day, just…I’m not sure…”

It was the only time he would ever silence her, his turn to touch fingers softly upon lips.

“You will Drive. I’m your Lancer, only yours. You tell me what speed. You tell me to stop, and I will.” He leaned his head on hers, his breath short in a way that has nothing to do with Larry and Barry. “You drive, Capable, only when you want to.”   

And she had closed her eyes, and her smile had curved against his skin…

Now she continues to speak, holding out a hand to the spray. “You know the pipes? How they gave the water? It was like a waterfall, we’ve read about them in Miss Giddy’s books. Furiosa managed it just so, and – we’ve made it like that, only smaller, one that is endless, that all can use. For drinking, for bathing. The water is filtered. Good and clean.”

She drops her hand and crosses to him, the rocks wet beneath her soles, both their feet bare. The drops shine in her hair, and her dress is filmy, and Nux feels cooled by the water and warmed by her. When she speaks once more, her voice is shy. “Furiosa said you and I could test it. If you like.”

Her fingers tease at her hair, nervous-like, and her mouth slants soft and warm. “You could get that dirty paint off –“

“Wash clean, new paint job.” He likes the idea. Chrome and clean, all by her hands and under the spray of Aqua Cola -  

She laughs, and Nux loves it, loves her.

_Loves her._

_**Oh**._

War Boys aren’t meant to Love, they are meant to Worship, to die glorious and burning –

And he was burning but chose to Live Again.  _For her._

Chose to live New, to have Hope, dangerous as both things are –

Capable approaches, steps soft and slow, encouraging. “It’s lovely. Like rain. I’ve dreamed of rain so many times, you and I in it –“

She stops and flushes pink, and it looks so funny and shine with her hair, and Nux is lost. 

He nods and takes her hand, soft and cool with the spray. “Alright.”

Her smile blooms like one of the Dag’s leafy things. “Alright?”

“S’good.” He steps to it and then pauses, because – “I’ve heard of acid rain.”

She shakes her head at him, red gleaming against water and rock. “Not this rain. And I’ll be with you.”

She’ll be with him. No Driver, no Lancer. Equals.

Nux nods and they wade into the water, her linen trailing in the eddies of it and Nux hadn’t even thought to shuck off his pants –

But then Capable steps under the spray and she is transformed, water pouring over her, sliding over skin –

Her hair is darker like this, her skin paler, sparkling as she is washed in such cool clarity, and Nux is breathless, hot and cold and parched for her –

She tips her head back and catches the water in her mouth, and then smiles at him, so eager, he’s never seen her so open, so happy. “Nux, try it, you’ll love it –“

Nux tilts his head back to oblige her, and though he chokes a bit as the water gushes and burbles into his mouth, it’s  _rapturous_ , no wonder the Wretched had clamored for it –

And then Capable spits water at him, and laughs when he sputters at the hit. Nux doesn’t know how else to react other than to slap some water over at her from what pools over the rocks, the splash arcing up to spatter her. She shrieks, gleeful, and suddenly its like they’re Pups, romping and splashing and playing in such miraculous abundance, and he can barely breathe, he’s laughing so and Capable is too –

She is breathless and grinning and soaked, and the warm flush of her skin is not covered at  _all_ by her linen,  _so so so wet_ , fabric molding lines and curves, and he can see her,  _all of her_ –

And she flushes even deeper as she realizes why his eyes are so wide, and Nux wishes his pants were made of the same cloth, he would not have her feel more exposed than him, unequal and unready –

The laughter dies and she wavers between stepping toward him and away from, the conflict warring upon her face –

And Nux closes his eyes and holds his arms wide. “You drive,” he assures her, his voice clear even over the fall of the water. “You drive only when you’re ready, Capable. Have me leave or have me look, your command. Tell me so I can obey.”

There’s only the hammer and pound and splash of water against the rocks, and then a body is stepping close to him, sliding next to his. Her voice is a warm thrum against his ear. “I don’t want to command anyone, Nux, especially you.”

Fingers trace along his scars, then the dips and planes of his arms and back, and Nux  _shudders_.

 _Oh, the ache, the burn, the water can’t even cool it_  -

Below his belt, the pulse of heat floods him, a hot throbbing lancing through him –

And Capable makes a noise, a soft quick inhale through her teeth, and Nux hurriedly steps back, his soles slipping slightly over the watery rocks. “I’m sorry –“

And Capable puts her mouth on his.

Nux had thought nothing could be sweeter, nothing softer, than the touch of her fingers on his scars.

 _So wrong. So very very wrong_.

And they stand under the spray of water -  _not Aqua-Cola, nothing with the poison of the Immortan lacing it_  – so pure and powerful, wet and wonderful, pouring over heads both bare and scarlet, sliding down skins both smooth and scarred, droplets tracking down cheeks in cool curving paths as their lips claim and covet, their mouths sate and surrender.

They take each other, taste each other, let lips part and pull and fingers curl at skulls and skin. The water is cool but the heat of their mouths is  _hot_  and just as wet, and Nux thinks that even Aqua Cola down the most parched throat would be swill after sweetness of her mouth. 

When her tongue strokes at his, so shy and sweet, he  _sways_ , can barely stand, and breaks away from lock of their lips to moan.  _“Capable…”_

She looks up at him, and her eyes are wide and glazed and dark and –

His breath gusts out of him once more. Larry and Barry will be out of a job what with how she steals his breath so neatly. His voice is ragged, and his heart sends an ache down to every inch of his half-life bones. “Chrome can’t compare, the shine of Valhalla envies you, so lovely, so –”

Her eyes widen even more, and he tries to catch his breath, licks his scarred lips that still taste of her. “My New Valhalla. My Hope.” 

He places her hand over his half-life heart that is hers entirely, for how ever long it beats. “My Capable?”

His voice cracks with the question, and he fears his heart will be next if she chooses to –

Her eyes witness his, and she laces their fingers tight. “Yours. As yours as you are mine.”

Nux closes his eyes, and the water that tracks down his cheeks is not from the spray as she pulls him into a kiss that is fierce with her promise. 

 _I live again for you_.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the end to this fanfic! God, I don't blame anyone for abandoning it, given that the last time I wrote for it was last summer…
> 
> But I recently re-watched "Mad Max: Fury Road" and fell in love all over again, and got inspired with a NEW fanfic (I invite so much trouble to my door, I swear…) for it. It didn't feel right to start working on that without giving this one the ending it deserved. I have a serious weakness for passionate embraces under falling water…this is the closest you could ever get to fluff in this dystopian wasteland...
> 
> A HUGE thank you to those who let me know they were still enjoying this fanfic! Your words are shine and chrome and so deeply appreciated! I hope you like the next one I come up with...


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